Secrets
by LittleKnux2008
Summary: Not all heroes are brave. [McWeir, missing scene for The Storm]


**Title: **Secrets  
**Rating: **Teen  
**Warning(s): **Torture, violence  
**Summary: **Not all heroes are brave…  
**Pairing: **McWeir  
**Spoilers: **"The Storm", "Underground"  
**Author's Note: **Another little ficlet, hope you guys enjoy! _This is **not** a happy story._ Thought I'd let you all know. Anyway, please enjoy and review!

* * *

Commander Acastus Koyla stared at Dr. Rodney McKay as his soldiers led Elizabeth Weir away, a cool, calculating smile twisting at his lips. "What are you doing here?" Koyla asked, tilting his head, eyes glimmering.

"My understanding – I'm being held hostage," Dr. McKay replied, his voice jumping. Koyla didn't miss the nervousness in his voice or his body language. The grin continued to pull at his lips. It was enjoyable, really, how this man believed that Koyla wouldn't get the information he needed from him; that Koyla was stupid enough not to be suspicious about McKay's presence here…

"I mean here in Atlantis," Koyla said firmly, knowing that Rodney was simply trying to stall. "Why did some of you stay behind?" It was a simple question that he already knew the answer to – but it succeeded in its purpose to make the other man all the more nervous. _Never ask something you don't know_. It was an age-old saying, and Koyla had twisted it into dealing with prisoners. You had to have some idea about what the answers _should_ be or you left the prisoner in control, which was simply unacceptable. Things like that made people lie; made them feel superior to their capturer.

"You know, to make sure everyone got out okay," Rodney said, trying to keep from stumbling over his words. That was an acceptable answer, right? Someone would stay behind to do that. Now he just had to make Koyla believe that it was him. He bit his lip in the silence that stretched after his response.

"Isn't that the work of someone…less important?" Koyla questioned, his eyes flashing dangerously. Rodney felt his chest shake with an exhale. Koyla had caught him in his lie and was waiting for him to slip up. He could see the mirth in the other man's cold eyes.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he replied, forcing a laugh out of his system. It was a lost cause, but if there had been any small chance that Koyla believed him, it was necessary to say it. Sheppard needed time; as much time as Rodney could give him.

Koyla's eyes traveled over the immediate vicinity, and Rodney felt a surge of anger in him at seeing the look on Koyla's face. He looked as if it was his already. McKay clenched his fists at his sides, the biting sting of his nails into his palms reminding him to keep quiet. He'd probably done enough damage already. Koyla turned to face Rodney once more. "You have a plan, don't you?" he said. By the way he said it, Rodney knew that it wasn't a question. Koyla knew.

"I've got lots of plans about lots of things," Rodney replied vaguely, hoping to stall him.

"I'm interested in the plan you have to save the city," Koyla said bluntly, his eyes tearing into Rodney's.

"I never said anything about saving anything," Rodney insisted, well aware that his voice was rising.

Koyla smirked, and somehow the smirk was even more terrifying than the manipulative look he'd been receiving. Rodney tensed as Koyla pressed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing tighter than was necessary. "Not yet," he whispered, his voice deadly. Rodney's eyes skittered away from Koyla and fell on one of the soldiers behind the man. The soldier wore nearly the same look in his eyes as Koyla as he drew a long knife from its sheath. Rodney felt a cool slab of ice encompass his stomach and his heart as he watched the light glisten on the knife. His throat suddenly felt too swollen to swallow. "Now," Koyla said slowly, the cruel smile back in place. He stepped backward, his hands clasped behind his back as he walked. "What is your plan to save the city?"

"Look, take the C4 and medical supplies and _go_," Rodney told him.

Koyla laughed, a cold, heartless laugh that sent the hairs on the back of Rodney's neck rising. "Do you know how powerful the people who built this city were?" Rodney was silent as he listened to Koyla's words. "We are simply looking out for the survival of our people."

"As are we," Rodney replied testily, "You—"

"Your words mean nothing," Koyla hissed as he turned. "Now tell me what your plan is!" he nodded to two of the soldiers. They forced Rodney to his knees and held his arms, preventing him from getting up.

"I thought my words meant nothing," Rodney said sardonically. Anger flashed in Koyla's eyes briefly and he stepped to the side, taking the knife from the third soldier. Rodney closed his eyes for a long moment. _'C'mon, John,' _he pleaded, hoping that the other man would hide the C4. As oblivious as he appeared to military techniques, Rodney knew that whatever C4 that they gave the Genii would eventually be used against them. _'They wouldn't come here for just C4 and medical supplies,' _Rodney thought, _'so why are they here?'_ He tried to keep his mind focused on the question as Koyla approached, his demeanor that of a feral cat approaching its prey.

"You will tell me what your plan is," Koyla stated calmly, twirling the knife in his hand. Rodney stared at the object, entranced by the reflection of light on the blade as it swung.

"You need me," Rodney blurted out quickly, "You won't kill me." He expected Koyla to be frustrated at his comment, but the other man's reaction chilled him to the bone. Koyla chuckled, his eyes as dark and malicious as his words.

"I don't intend on killing you, Dr. McKay." What he intended to do, however, was clear. Whatever color Rodney had left in his face disappeared.

"I'll give you the C4 and whatever you need," he told Koyla weakly.

Koyla smirked, bending down so his eyes were level with Rodney's. "It doesn't matter what you'll give me, McKay," he said in a falsely pleasant tone, "I'm taking it all."

Finally, it dawned on Rodney what Koyla was planning to do. "That's ridiculous!" he exclaimed. "You can't possibly think you can take this entire city. You don't have the–"

"The what?" Koyla asked as he stood up, his voice curious, "The what, Rodney?"

"The gene," Rodney muttered, angry at himself for revealing this tidbit of information. Still, he tried to make it fit to his use. "You need it to make things work around here. You aren't descendants of the Ancients – this city isn't made for inferior people like you," Rodney saw the anger in Koyla's eyes and fought the nausea in his stomach. It was a stupid idea, perhaps, to anger Koyla, but calm protests had gotten him nowhere. He needed to stall Koyla so Sheppard had enough time to hide the C4 and get to the next grounding station.

"Inferior, are we?" Koyla asked. "I suggest you look at this situation again. I am in control of Atlantis as of now," he informed Rodney as he narrowed his eyes, "and you _will_ tell me what I want to now."

"The city is about to get hit by a hurricane," Rodney hissed. "If you don't let me go, the city, you, me, _everything on Atlantis_ will be destroyed."

Koyla smiled. "Then I suppose you should tell me your plan to save the city."

Rodney clamped his mouth shut. It was all too obvious that Koyla was simply toying with him, enjoying his resistance. "Atlantis is useless to you without a gene."

Koyla sighed, walking toward Rodney. _'Ignorant fool,' _he thought, smirking as he stared down at his prisoner. It was amusing, his efforts to protect whatever plan he'd made, but Koyla had places to be. Koyla decided to cut to the chase and pull out his trump card. Perhaps he was mistaken, but he doubted it. "Then I will keep someone here so they can keep the city running," Koyla told Rodney, "Perhaps Elizabeth…" he trailed off, pleased at the flash of emotion in Rodney's eyes.

"She doesn't have the gene," Rodney told Koyla quickly.

"That's a shame," Koyla conceded, "She's such a pretty little thing, isn't she?" He didn't miss the anger radiating from Rodney. "You know, back in the day in the history of our planet, the Genii were split into tribes that constantly fought over one another. You see, when one tribe triumphed over the other, the chief allowed him the spoils of the victory, including the chief's daughter." There was a smile on his face as he told the tale. Rodney, still forced to kneel, gritted his teeth and settled for glaring at Koyla. Behind his angry glare, he was worried for Elizabeth. He couldn't do anything to save her, and from what he'd seen, Koyla was malicious enough to carry out the underlying tone of his story. "The victorious chief would keep the daughter as his…plaything, if you will. Every time she got pregnant, he would allow her to give birth, and then he would force her to strangle the baby with her bare hands, proving his dominance over her and her tribe." Koyla watched Rodney carefully and knew he hit the right spot. "Perhaps it's time we returned to the old ways, Dr. McKay."

"You won't touch her," he hissed, his voice low.

"How threatening that is, coming from a scientist at my mercy," Koyla said, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Maybe I'll keep you around, make you build the bomb we send to the planet your people have evacuated to."

"You couldn't make me," Rodney replied.

"And that's where you're wrong," Koyla told him mirthfully. He bent down, grabbing a handful of Rodney's shirt, their faces inches apart. "You're stronger than people you credit for, I can see that. It would take far too much of my time to make you break on your own," he smiled, his breath hot on Rodney's face. "I'm not going to torture you, Rodney," he whispered. "Bring Elizabeth Weir to me," Koyla announced loudly, his words directed toward the soldier behind him. Rodney lunged at Koyla, but the two men restraining him held him tightly.

"You…" words failed Rodney as a cool pit formed in the bottom of his stomach.

It happened in a flash. One second Koyla was there, smiling in front of him, and the next moment he'd lifted his arm and plunged the knife into Rodney's forearm. A scream ripped from Rodney's throat, his eyes wide open. His arm burned with the pain, thick blood rolling over the skin and seeping through his jacket. The pain consumed everything – he could no longer see Koyla; only hear his scream.

"_This is what you're condemning her to!_" Koyla shouted over Rodney's cries of pain. Koyla twisted the knife, causing another shot of unimaginable pain to shoot through Rodney's body. The nausea in his stomach caught in his throat. Rodney's torso swung to the left, his balance thrown off. "Tell me your plan!"

Rodney felt his chest constricting. The pain made it unimaginably hard to breathe. Koyla smirked at his struggle. "I'll…" he gasped for breath, "I'll do it." Smiling, Koyla pulled the knife out of Rodney's forearm, causing another burst of pain through Rodney's body. The soldiers released his arms and he fell to the ground, his cheek pressing against the cold floor by Koyla's feet. He lay there for a few long moments, regaining his breath. His arm stung with the fury of a thousand bee stings, throbbing with every pulse of blood. In those silent moments, he prayed that his plan would work and that somehow, someway, they'd be able to regain control of Atlantis.

If not, he had just condemned Elizabeth to a worse fate than torture.


End file.
